Selectmen surrender on flyers

The selectmen abandoned their effort to persuade the School Board to relax its new prohibition against allowing town departments to distribute information to parents and children through the schools. When the board last met on June 11 it intended to meet with the School Board to discuss the issue.

Referring to correspondence between the two boards, chairman Gus Benavides indicated that there appeared no likelihood that the School Board would retreat from its position, driven by an insurance providers concern over exposure to liability. John O'Brien and Kevin Hayes concurred, but Hayes said that he would renew the effort when an opportunity, like a change in the composition of the School Board, presented itself.

Both the Parks and Recreation Department and the library have traditionally used the schools as a means of distributing program information to both students and parents, but in May the School Board adopted a new policy that states "community, external, for profit, non-profit and other non-school agencies will not be allowed to utilize school mailboxes, bulletin boards, and/or student-to-home distribution. Information may be submitted for approval to post on bulletin boards designated for that purpose."

The selectmen, along with the Parks and Recreation Commission, and library director Katherine Dormody all wrote to school officials asking them to make an exception for municipal departments. When the School Board met earlier this month Town Administrator Scott Dunn told them that "if you're making your decisions based solely on limiting liability, then your motivation is flawed, " adding that at Town Hall "we make decisions based on principle and the good of the community and let the chips fall where they may. That's why we buy insurance." But, the School Board refused to budge and reaffirmed its decision.